A smartphone program to support adherence to oral chemotherapy in people with cancer: Proof-of-concept trial

Xiomara Skrabal Ross; Kate M Gunn; Vijayaprakash Suppiah; Pandora Patterson; Terry Boyle; Christine Carrington; Shir Ley Tan; Marissa Ryan; Rohit Joshi; Ian Olver

doi:10.1111/ajco.13656

A smartphone program to support adherence to oral chemotherapy in people with cancer: Proof-of-concept trial

Asia Pac J Clin Oncol. 2022 Oct;18(5):e378-e387. doi: 10.1111/ajco.13656. Epub 2022 Jan 30.

Authors

Xiomara Skrabal Ross^{1

2

3}, Kate M Gunn^{1

4}, Vijayaprakash Suppiah^{5

6}, Pandora Patterson^{3

7}, Terry Boyle^{2

6}, Christine Carrington^{8

9}, Shir Ley Tan¹⁰, Marissa Ryan^{8

11

12}, Rohit Joshi¹³, Ian Olver¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Cancer Research Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
² Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
³ Research, Evaluation & Social Policy Unit, Canteen Australia, Sydney, Australia.
⁴ Department of Rural Health, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
⁵ UniSA Clinical and Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
⁶ Australian Centre for Precision Health, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
⁷ Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁸ Department of Pharmacy, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Australia.
⁹ School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
¹⁰ HPS Pharmacies, Calvary North Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, Australia.
¹¹ Centre for Online Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
¹² Centre for Health Services Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
¹³ Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
¹⁴ School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

PMID: 35098675
DOI: 10.1111/ajco.13656

Abstract

Aim: Nonadherence to oral chemotherapy (OC) can lead to health complications, including premature death. Mobile phones are increasingly used to deliver medication adherence interventions. However, there is limited evidence about mobile phone-based interventions to increase adherence to OC, specifically. This study explores the proof-of-concept of a smartphone program to support adherence to OC in people with cancer.

Methods: This was a 10-week, nonrandomized, multisite trial. The outcomes assessed were acceptability, satisfaction with the intervention, adherence to OC, knowledge about OC, and side-effects presence and severity. The program consisted of short message service (SMS) reminders to take OC, as well as information about OC, including the management of side-effects.

Results: Twenty-two participants (17-74 y/o, median age 60 y/o) were recruited at six hospitals. The sample included 10 different cancer diagnoses (predominance of breast cancer) and 11 OC medications. Acceptability of the intervention was high, with 95% of the enrolled participants completing postintervention measures, and 81% reporting high satisfaction with the program. The intervention was found to have no effect on supporting adherence to OC (assessed by self-report and medication event monitoring system) in this sample. An increase in knowledge about OC was observed at postintervention (p = 0.010).

Conclusions: This study demonstrated proof-of-concept of the smartphone program and highlighted the need for intervention and trial design-related refinements. Future work should evaluate the effect of the program on adherence to OC with nonadherent patients.

Keywords: antineoplastic agents; medical oncology; medication adherence; neoplasms; smartphone.

Publication types

Clinical Trial
Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

Cell Phone*
Humans
Medication Adherence
Middle Aged
Neoplasms* / drug therapy
Smartphone
Text Messaging*

Grants and funding

the Cancer Research Institute, University of South Australia